By Michael Johnson, Socialist Party LGBTQ+ group convenor Since 2018, Tory ministers have promised to ban the barbaric practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people on 35 separate occasions. In that time, eight countries have passed bans. However, on 31 March, news leaked that the Boris Johnson government was dropping the proposed ban. This news met with an unsurprising backlash. ...

Cardiff bin workers in Unite the Union have voted by 98% to strike against management bullying and the use of agencies. This massive vote on a 77% turnout follows years of bullying by management. The bin workers earned huge respect from the public all the way through the pandemic as they kept this vital service going – even at the ...

Editorial of the Socialist, issue 1170 The horror of war, of families fleeing for their lives as bombs fall on their cities and towns, is dominating the news. Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is being watched with fear and revulsion. His farcical propaganda claims this is a ‘special military operation’, designed to fight ‘Ukrainian fascism’. Yet Ukraine is being trampled ...

By Niall Mulholland The war in Ukraine has revisited the ‘national question’ in Europe, ie the language, culture, and democratic rights of populations to territory, in a bloody manner, not seen since the Balkans wars in the 1990s following the breakup of Yugoslavia. Niall Mulholland of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) explains how capitalism cannot peacefully solve the ...

Stop the war in UkraineWithdraw Russian troops and end the bombingNo trust in NatoFor workers’ unity, for self-determination and full democratic rights for all minoritiesNo trust in Johnson, Putin, Biden, or Zelensky. For an independent workers’ movementFight for a socialist alternative to capitalism and war War is the inevitable consequence of an international capitalist system based on profit, exploitation and ...

By John Williams ‘A Killing in Tiger Bay’ is an in-depth, three-part documentary telling the story of one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British criminal history – ‘the Cardiff Three’. These three men were falsely convicted of murder, although initially five men were charged, with two also spending time in jail. Lynette White was a Grangetown resident who ...

By Taryn Tarrant-Cornish The resounding mood of the speakers at the Cardiff People’s Budget echoed the opening words of the Trade’s Council’s Secretary, Dave Bartlett, who warned the city’s council; “We want it back.” Over 40 people participated in the Cardiff People’s Budget called by Cardiff Trade Union Council. Speaker after speaker spoke movingly about their personal experiences outlining the ...

Winter gritters working for Carmarthenshire County council have won big concessions from the council who will now have to adhere to an agreement to pay decent shift allowances that they have been trying to cut back. Members of GMB, Unison and Unite have taken three nights of strike action and operated nine picket lines in a dispute caused by the ...

Pickets were out for a second day today at Carmarthenshire County council depots Nantglas, Crosshands, Cillefwr, Carmarthen and Llandovery in a dispute by gritting crews. Gritters at are taking 12 days of strike action in a dispute over the failure of the council to adhere to an agreement on standing down workers after being on call. Mark Evans, secretary of ...

By Gareth Bromhall, Swansea Socialist Party and Lynne, branch secretary, Swansea Unite Community branch We were saddened to hear of the loss of long-standing Socialist Party member Kate Jones on 20 December. Most recently a member in Swansea, Kate was previously a member in Brighton and Llanelli. A lifelong Marxist, Kate became politically active in her teens and joined Militant, ...